If you plan in advance, there are a number of steps you can take to finance care home fees without having to necessarily sell your property.
- Explore other payment options.
- Make a financial gift to your children.
- Set up an asset protection trust.
- Protective Property Trust.
- Life Interest Trust.
- Interest in Possession Trust.
What assets are taken into account for care home fees?
Your capital – such as cash savings and investments, land and property (including overseas property), and business assets. If your capital is above a certain threshold, you’ll have to pay the full costs of your care yourself.
How do I protect my inheritance from a nursing home UK?
Provided you are still healthy and don’t need care, you can put a house into Trust schemes such as: Protective Property Trust. This kind of Trust lets you to ring-fence a percentage of your property for your loved ones to inherit after your death. They also go by the name as ‘Property Trust wills’.
Can I transfer my house to avoid care home fees?
You cannot deliberately look to avoid care fees by gifting your property or putting a house in trust to avoid care home fees. This is known as deprivation of assets. If you do this, your local authority will come after you, and possibly the person that was given the transfer of assets to reclaim what is owed.
What happens if you transfer property to a child?
Put simply, transferring property to your children in this way may be seen as an attempt to conceal property wealth to avoid paying for care. If this is deemed to be the case, the local authority can reverse the transfer of ownership.
Can you put property into trust to avoid care home fees?
Some trust companies guarantee that by using their service you will avoid care home fees and reduce inheritance tax, making it a potentially financially rewarding investment. This is a key motivation for many people who are thinking of transferring their property into a trust.
Can you sell your house to avoid care home fees?
It could be tempting to give away or sell your house to relatives to avoid the fees to avoid paying the full cost of care. There have even been cases of people ‘selling’ houses to a relative for a nominal fee in order to transfer legal ownership.
What happens if you move into a care home?
Your home will not be included if you receive care and support at home or if you go into a care home on a short-term or temporary basis. If you move into a care home permanently, your home will not be included if, for example, your partner still lives there or, in certain circumstances, a relative.
